Bello: Lagos Ready for September Flood Alert
In this interview with Ugo Aliogo, the Commissioner for Environment, Lagos State, Tunji Bello, speaks on the readiness of the state government for the September flood alert, and the efforts of the state government to combat climate change and other issues. Excerpts:
Climate change is a global problem facing countries. However, on the part of the United Nations, efforts have been on the ground to address the challenges through tree planting and other measures of reclaiming the lost natural habitat. What have been the efforts of the Lagos State Government in addressing climate change?
Let me state here that climate change is real and it is better for our people to understand it. We have been trying to make our people understand that Lagos has been a champion in this course. Nigeria has been noted in Africa as one of the countries making frantic efforts to combat the challenges of climate change. In 2008, we started the climate change conference. We inaugurated an international climate change conference and that has given us a lot of mileage. Furthermore, it has made Nigeria one of the leading countries in the process of combating the challenges of climate change. Our last climate conference was done in June. There was a law in the previous administration so we didn’t organise any climate change.
During Fashola’s administration, we organised the climate change conference on a local level. There was one we did which was an international conference and we assembled experts from across the globe. One of the measures we took from those conferences especially during the former Governor Fashola’s administration and till the present was the creation of Lagos State Parks and Garden Agency (LASPA). LASPA manages the beautification, greening and planting of tree in Lagos. One of the impacts of combating climate change is that you have to do the adaptation and mitigation process, and one of the ways, which we are doing that is to use tree planting as a measure.
Today, we have planted close to eight million trees in Lagos. That shows you how active Lagos has been in terms of combating the effects of climate change, so we have been at the forefront. There is a law in the past administration, but we have resumed now and we have taken the front seat, and we are recognised by the UN and several Africa countries in this regard. We are ready to propagate the message of climate change as a way of combating its effects. We are doing mitigation and adaptation methods, and there are several processes in which we do that. There is the issue of combating the effects of the Atlantic Ocean through protecting the sea shores and monitoring the coastal areas.
Another measure, we put in place to combat the effects of climate change is clearing of drainage channels especially before the rainy season. There is a lot of public enlightenment with regards to managing the effects of flooding and others. In carrying out these efforts, we are partnering with the private sector in beautifying certain places in Lagos. Several banks and corporates organisations are involved in the beautification and landscaping of some areas. Though government have done major beautification of certain areas. The beautification and landscaping of Ajose Adeogun, Victoria Island is been done by Zenith Bank. The beautification process of Ajose Adeogun started during former Governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu administration and it was championed by Zenith Bank. During that period, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, was the Deputy General Manager of the Bank. Today, Ajose Adeogun is a very beautiful place; it was something we started jointly with Zenith Bank.
We have also done Ikeja roundabout which has been replaced because of the road expansion. It was done in partnership with United Bank of Africa (UBA). We have partnered with Cadbury Nigeria Plc and several other companies, to combat the effects of climate change. These partnerships are important because the effects of climate change are not only on the part of the government, the citizens are also involved. As a government, when you are protecting the public, every other person is involved including the private sector. So you cannot say that the effect of climate change will be felt by those in government only. All hands must be on deck to ensure that there is combined effort in reducing the effects of climate change and people must be sensitised along that line.
The Annual Flood Outlook, prepared by Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency, cited Lagos States as one of the states with probable flood risks places. How prepared is Lagos?
Lagos was not flooded in July as some persons were saying. What we experienced when it rained that Friday in July in Lagos was a flash flood. I remember a long time when I was a reporter with St Petersburg Times, in Florida, President George Senior was the President of America then. He was coming to the Tamper Bay area for a function, and I was to report the event for St Petersburg Times, and I was to leave for 9 a.m, then I was informed that it rained heavily that day. The road was flooded, it was nothing but a flash flood, even the President’s trip from the Airport to the venue was affected, so he was late and I was also late in getting there. There was no movement of vehicles because the roads were flooded. But few hours after the rain stopped the flood disappeared.
Flash flood happens across the world, therefore Lagos is not an exception, and Lagos is a coastal city. Lagos is below sea level. Lagos has only one commodore channel. Commodore channel is the channel is where the vessels and ships bringing goods enter the port and it is only one entry. If you compare it with other West Africa countries, you can through several ways enter the ocean.
The only commodore channel that Lagos has is the way through which the Lagoon enters the Atlantic Ocean. So as the ships are entering the ports, they are pushing the Lagoon back, and then the Lagoon has to travel a long way to go and discharge at Epe. If you are coming from Marina and going to Victoria Island, look at your right, you will see that as the ships are trying to enter Marina, the Lagoon is also coming in, and then ships are pushing the Lagoon back. Then the Lagoon has to travel through Lekki to go and discharge at the Ocean again through Epe.
Lagos is about two meters below sea level already, and if it rains consistently for two hours, Lagos will be flooded and if your canals and channels are not working, the flood can be there for three days, it happened in the past. This time, the same thing happened and it rained consistently for seven hours, and everywhere was filled up. Firstly, the Ocean is already high and the lagoon is marooned, therefore it cannot discharge into the ocean. So how can your channels discharge into the ocean? Because the drainage channel empty into the Lagoon.
The lagoon has also locked up to your channels so everywhere will be waterlogged. But allow the rain to go down for few hours, say three or four hours, the water will disappear. But if you don’t clean your drainage channels and dredge it properly, the water will be there for two or three days. It has happened to Lagos before, but it is not happening now. The following day the flood was not in the drainage channels because they are functional. It was not flooding, but it was flash flood. Flash flood is totally different from when Lagos is flooded. You cannot compare what happened in Lagos to what happened in China, Germany, India and US.
Let me state here that flood is occasional, it is not a permanent thing, and it is temporary, so when the rain stops, the flooding will come to an end. If the flood doesn’t dry it means the government is not working. So flash flood is a global problem, it is not just peculiar to Nigeria alone. What happened in Lagos also happened in Florida because the state is a coastal state. When Florida was flooded after few hours, the water disappeared and nobody complained about the flood. But in Nigeria, the situation is different. I am not saying it cannot happen, but you cannot compare the Lagos States with other States, Lagos manages the flooding situation very well. Let me say here that the state government must be commended for the work it has done especially in managing the flooding, although there are still areas that the administration needs to improve upon. The state government has been doing a lot of public education on how to combat flooding in the state.
Yearly, we are the first state in Nigeria to announce the rain pattern to Lagosians and urge them to take caution especially in the vulnerable areas in Lagos. We know the areas that are very vulnerable in Lagos. Five major rivers empty into Lagos, we have Ogun, and Osun rivers, then there is river Owo along the Badagry axis.
But the most critical ones are rivers Osun and Owo, river Ogun empty through ketu, Alapere, and Mile 12. River Osun goes through Epe and axis along that area. Don’t forget that the Oyo Dam which is in Ogun and Oyo State, once they empty their dams, it also has a fall back on Lagos. All the water coming through Ogun and Osun river, they must empty into Lagos. So if the Lagoon or the Ocean is not able to discharge, they will be locked, and everywhere will be filled up. So people must understand that the terrain of Lagos is totally different from Ogun, Oyo, and others.
The Director-General, NIHSA Clement Eze said there would be worst flood in Lagos, maybe in September. What is the preparation from the Ministry of Environment regarding the September flood alert given by the NIHSA?
Regarding the flood alert from NIHSA, I will like to say that here in Lagos state, we are not preparing for September, we start preparation in January. Some of the measures we have put in place are public education and regular clearing of the drainage channels. Part of the measures is to ensure that people must stop dumping into the drains because most of the drains have already been cleared; they are going back to second part now which is in anticipation that it will rain in September, October and November. We have been preparing ahead for years; we don’t wait for a flood alerts before we start preparing. Every year, we start our flood preparation between January, and February, we organise a press conference to announce the rain pattern for that particular year and state our preparation.
For 2021, we have done some slight differences by increasing the number of the drainage channels that we are cleaning. Let me state here that we have three levels of drainage channels; primary, secondary, and tertiary drainage channels. Tertiary drainages are the drainages in residential neighbourhoods, and they are the responsibilities of the residents and Local Government Councils. While secondary and primary are the responsibilities of the state government. There is a need to be synergy between the Local Government Council and State Government in clearing the drainages between primary and tertiary drainages to flow into one another.
In some areas, in the state, we have primary, secondary and tertiary, while in other areas, such as Victoria Island you have only secondary and tertiary channels because you are very close to the sea levels. But in places where you have higher ground such as Alausa, Maryland and Ikeja GRA, what you have is secondary and tertiary because of the hills. If you visit a place like Ojota, you will notice that the land level is high.
So Alausa, Maryland, Ikeja GRA, and Ojota are very far from the Lagoon levels. So tertiary drainage will discharge to secondary and secondary will link up with the primary channels. But in Victoria Island, you have a lot of Secondary drainage channels, if you go to Ozumba Mbadiwe, there are a lot of secondary drainage channels discharging into the Lagoon and many of them are coming from residential neighbourhoods, so that is the way to measure the water levels and ensure that these places are regularly cleared and cleaned up. Though the clearing of the drainage channels is the responsibility of the government, our people must be educated and engaged. Lagosians should stop dumping into the drains.
Plastic pollution has become a very serious problem in Lagos, what is the ministry through LAWMA doing to address it?
Plastic pollution is an issue that everybody needs to be concerned about because plastic won’t degrade because they can be buried in the ground for many years and it will remain the same. As part of the strategies for combating it, people should be advised on the need not to dump plastics in drains. Most of the things excavated from our drains are mostly plastics and they are gotten from eateries and restaurants. The public needs to be educated more and awareness should be raised about this issue because it affects the flow of water. So on our path, we are partnering with a lot of private sector partners. We are also engaged in recycling activities, and there are private sector organisations that we are partnering with.
The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) is also doing waste separation, which they are starting from different estates in the state. Waste separation means that if you are generating refuse in house, you put plastics in separate containers and the waste in another container so that that plastic will not be taken together. When so sorting, it is very critical to separate the plastic from the ordinary estates and we have to start from organised estate first. So you have to build up gradually, it will be very difficult to visit general areas such as Ajegunle, Mushin, and Shomolu, so you must start from organised estates, which they are currently doing. Eventually, you will be able to reduce the amount of plastics going into waste. So that is the process, which we have started.
Sir, Lagos State is facing huge deforestation challenges due to huge urbanisation activities. What is the ministry doing to reclaim the lost natural habitat?
You know Lagos was not blessed with many lands. Lagos has the smallest landmass less than 20,000 square kilometers. The forest we have in Lagos is at the Epe, Ikorodu, and Badagry axis. In these forests, there are a lot of wetlands, so you have to preserve the wetlands first. Wetlands are swampy areas where the water passes through. For instance, River Ogun comes from Isheri, goes through Opic Estate, and then passes through behind Magodo, Mile 12 and other areas. Those are the wetlands. The River Ogun splits to several areas. So you must separate those wetlands and preserve it because it helps to combat floods. So what we are doing to reclaim the lost natural habitat is to control the population because Lagos is overcrowded and people are trooping in due to the affluence in the state.
We are facing a lot of urban pressures from people encroaching into the State and you cannot stop them from entering the state. We are trying to balance things and see how we can limit people from encroaching on some of these lands. So that is a challenge for us. For a state that has no control over the Police and security, it is a challenge to curtail the encroachment. So to prevent encroachment, you must have effective control over the security formation in the state.
Under my watch we have tried to carry out certain measures to control deforestation through close monitoring to prevent encroachment of our forest vegetation. We stopped people in Badagry and Ikorodu, through the efforts of the Ecology and Conservation department. We still need those green areas and wetlands because of their positive contribution to the atmosphere.
One of the roles of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), is to interpret the data of all water in the state as well as the regular monitoring of the quality of underground water. It also ensures that the quality of potable water from the package water industries is constantly under review. What progress has been made in the regular monitoring of water quality and ensures that water-packaging industries maintain compliance and safety standards?
It is not the duty of LASEPA alone. We have a LASEPA agency that monitors the waters that are used in the state, while Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWC), monitors the number of water produced. LASEPA has an extensive responsibility such as pollution control both domestic and industrial pollution. LASEPA also regulates noise pollution from Nightclubs and entertainment centers. LASEPA is doing a lot in that space. On the water control issue, LASWC is regulating activities in that space through registration and ensuring that players in the industry keep up with the guidelines and also comply. The commission has a process of engaging the players in the industry and ensures they comply.
In the area of measuring air quality of Lagos, is there an air quality database developed for Lagos State?
Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency is doing well in that regards, they recently set up the air quality monitoring facility, which was commissioned. The air quality monitoring facilities are in Ikeja, Ikorodu, and Lagos Island and there is also one in the LASEPA office. The aim of having the facility scattered in strategic places is to be able to monitor the air quality. The air quality facility was commissioned three months ago. I can say that the agency is living up to its responsibilities. Five air quality-monitoring facility are not enough, we need to establish more. What I can say regarding the air quality database depends on where you are living. For instance, in Ikeja, there are a lot of industries concentrated there; therefore a lot has been done to improve the air quality in those areas. But when you go to Lagos Island, Victoria Island, and Lekki, the air quality there is better, when compared with Ikeja, Ilupeju and Ikorodu. I areas, where the air quality is not good enough, place the agency should regularly monitor. LASEPA has its standards and guidelines for monitoring air quality. The agency has air quality measuring parameters to know the one complying and not complying.
